Conventional computer systems allow for the production and distribution of content such as video data, audio data, image data, text-based data, etc. Such distribution and production is increasing at a phenomenal rate due to the growing popularity of the Internet and the growing affordability of personal computers capable of efficiently processing and displaying content to users.
People now access and use content in numerous ways. One way that people access content is over a network. For example, persons using web browsers on personal computers can access content by surfing the World Wide Web via the Internet. Countless numbers of content providers link content to web pages accessed by persons using web browsers. Accordingly, persons using web browsers can access a web page from a web server operated by a content provider to view documents, video clips, listen to audio clips, or view images made available by the content provider.
In a typical application, when a client requests a piece of media content from a server, the client provides a global address associated with the content in the form of a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). Based on receiving a request at a location as specified by the global address, a server then accesses the content and sends or “streams” it to the client in accordance with an appropriate communication protocol.
There are various file formats for streaming media content and composite media streams. Regardless of the streaming file format used, an individual data stream may contain a sequence of digital data sets or units. The units can represent an image, sound, or some other stimuli “played back” to a viewer via a client.
The integrity of distributed media content can be enhanced using conventional security measures. For example, content can be digitally signed using conventional hashing and encryption techniques prior to being distributed for “playback” by one or more different users. A processing device receiving content can be configured to use the conventional digital signature to verify a trustworthiness of received content prior to play back of the digitally signed content. Conventional security techniques require verification of an entire grouping of media content before the user is afforded access to any segment of the media content.